Hurt Response, Part B – Job 7

Ever heard of Chronic Pain Syndrome? Wikipedia describes it as: “a common problem that is a major challenge to health-care providers because of its complex nature of poor etiology [cause] and poor response to therapy. Although CPS has been known to resolve completely with treatment, it is uncommon for full relief to be achieved. Therefore, patients should be encouraged to develop realistic goals for their pain treatment. Medications, surgeries, and alternative medicine treatments can reduce pain although their effectiveness varies by the patient and some may provide no relief at all to certain individuals.” In other words, you don’t want it.

Job was experiencing chronic pain and it was affecting him drastically.

“Has not man a hard service on earth, and are not his days like the days of a hired hand? Like a slave who longs for the shadow, and like a hired hand who looks for his wages, so I am allotted months of emptiness, and nights of misery are apportioned to me. When I lie down I say, ‘When shall I arise?’ But the night is long, and I am full of tossing till the dawn. My flesh is clothed with worms and dirt; my skin hardens, then breaks out afresh. My days are swifter than a weaver’s shuttle and come to their end without hope.

“Remember that my life is a breath; my eye will never again see good. The eye of him who sees me will behold me no more; while your eyes are on me, I shall be gone. As the cloud fades and vanishes, so he who goes down to Sheol does not come up; he returns no more to his house, nor does his place know him anymore.

“Therefore I will not restrain my mouth; I will speak in the anguish of my spirit; I will complain in the bitterness of my soul. Am I the sea, or a sea monster, that you set a guard over me? When I say, ‘My bed will comfort me, my couch will ease my complaint,’ then you scare me with dreams and terrify me with visions, so that I would choose strangling and death rather than my bones. I loathe my life; I would not live forever. Leave me alone, for my days are a breath. What is man, that you make so much of him, and that you set your heart on him, visit him every morning and test him every moment? How long will you not look away from me, nor leave me alone till I swallow my spit? If I sin, what do I do to you, you watcher of mankind? Why have you made me your mark? Why have I become a burden to you? Why do you not pardon my transgression and take away my iniquity? For now I shall lie in the earth; you will seek me, but I shall not be.” (Job 7, ESV)

Job begins to speak what he has learned.  Life is hard.  The hired hand or the slave longs for relief in the form of wages or shade from the heat, but he lives at the beck and call of another and often experiences emptiness.  That is what Job feels life is like for him. 

He is suffering what seems like interminable nights of tossing and turning, longing for the day.  But each day brings misery from his ailment.  He sees his life ebbing away swiftly with no answer for his concerns.

Job bemoans the shortness of life and the certainty that once it is over one can never see it revived again.  The grave ends all short-lived memories of those we know.

Consequently, Job will give vent to his anguish and should not be guarded against like the sea monster.  He does not bring danger, only bitterness of soul.  God has even stolen his ability to sleep comfortably with terrifying dreams and visions.  He prefers to be dead.  He hates his life and wants God to leave him alone.  It bothers him that God makes so much of human life, life which is so short.  Does God really have to constantly test us?  Can He not just look the other way for awhile?

Even if Job sins what is that to God?  Why does He have to mark Job as if Job is a burden to Him?  Why not just pardon his iniquity?  Job will soon be dead, he believes, and God will no longer pay attention to him.

We may note that though Job did not initially curse God, and he is not technically cursing God now, he is getting near to blaming God for what is happening in his life and is definitely not happy with God. Of course, his “friends” are not going to let that go without comment. And we will often hear something similar from those who are in great suffering and should not be surprised, but understanding.

Discussion Questions

1. When you do something stupid, how much does it bother you to have other people notice it and laugh?
2. Why is Job upset with God’s attention toward him?
3. Have you ever wished God would stop paying attention to you? Why?
4. Why do you think unrelenting pain messes with the human psyche so badly?
5. Who do you know who is experiencing chronic pain and how might you minister to them?
6. If you were suffering chronic pain or were dying, how could someone minister to you?